BARROW John -Biblio.com
3 résultats
4-40369Newton Abbot 1971 anast. dell'ediz. del 1818 8vo tutta tela con sovraccopertina pp. X-379 48 con ill. ed una carta rip. hardcover
18041155671804. First Edition. CHINA BARROW John. Travels in China. London: T. Cadell and W. Davies 1804. Quarto contemporary full marbled calf raised bands red and black morocco spine labels. $4500.First edition of this early attempt to ""show the extraordinary Chinese people as they really are"" with five full-page hand-colored aquatints including frontispiece and three engraved plates two double-page by William Alexander.""Barrow accompanied Lord Macartney's mission to the court of China in 1792 as his private secretary and the present account of the country accompanied by a number of fine plates is one of the best illustrated English travels on China The strict exclusion of Europeans by the Chinese Emperors had left China very much terra incognita to the western world well into the 19th century. Barrow was an excellent observer and the text contains a number of descriptions of Chinese artifacts and novelties"" Hill 16. Barrow's stated purpose was to treat subjects that were not covered by George Staunton in his 1797 Account of the same mission and ""to draw such a sketch of the manners the state of society the language literature and fine arts the sciences and civil institutions the religious worship and opinions the population and progress of agriculture the civil and moral character of the people as may enable the reader to settle the point of rank which China may be considered to hold in the scale of civilized nations."" The plates were drawn by William Alexander who accompanied the embassy as junior draughtsman and later became the first keeper of prints and drawings in the British Museum. In 1798 Alexander himself published Views of the Headlands Islands &c. Taken during the Voyage to China and he also illustrated Staunton's Account. Tooley 84. Abbey Travel 531. Cox I:346. Lowndes 123. Bookplate; occasional pencil marginalia.Interior generally clean restoration to calf joints and corners. An excellent wide-margined copy in contemporary calf. hardcover
180621994London: T. Cadell and W. Davies in the Strand 1806. 2 volumes. First Edition with the handcoloured decorations. Second and Best Edition overall with additions not found in the one volume first edition and with the handcoloured plates charts and plans not found in the first edition. With the 8 finely coloured aquatint plates by S. Daniell in Vol. I and with 9 folding charts and plans including the large folding map and 8 other maps and charts of which three are handcoloured in Vol. II. 4to bound in handsome three-quarter dark calf over marbled boards in contemporary style the spines with raised bands gilt ruled numbered in gilt in two compartments and with red morocco labels lettered in gilt. xvi 427; 4 372 2 directions for placing the plates 2 ads pp. A very handsome copy the text-block and plates in very nice condition. A few folds supported the aquatint handcoloured plates all very nicely preserved. A clean and pleasing copy. A VERY HANDSOME COPY OF THE SECOND AND BEST EDITION OF THIS IMPORTANT WORK. HANDCOLOURED AQUATINT PLATES BY S. DANIELL AND HANDCOLOURED MAPS AND CHARTS ARE PRESENT IN THIS EDITION FOR THE FIRST TIME. “Sir John Barrow 1st Baronet FRS FRGS LL.D was an English statesman who through the interest of Sir George Leonard Staunton to whose son he taught mathematics was attached on the first British embassy to China from 1792-94 as comptroller of the household to Lord Macartney. He soon acquired a good knowledge of the Chinese language on which he subsequently contributed interesting articles to the Quarterly Review; and the account of the embassy published by Sir George Staunton records many of Barrow's valuable contributions to literature and science connected with China. Although Barrow ceased to be officially connected with Chinese affairs after the return of the embassy in 1794 he always took much interest in them and on critical occasions was frequently consulted by the British government.<br> In 1797 he accompanied Lord Macartney as private secretary in his important and delicate mission to settle the government of the newly acquired colony of the Cape of Good Hope. Barrow was entrusted with the task of reconciling the Boers and "Kaffirs" and of reporting on the country in the interior. On his return from his journey in the course of which he visited all parts of the colony he was appointed auditor-general of public accounts. He decided to settle in South Africa married Anne Maria Trüter and in 1800 bought a house in Cape Town. But the surrender of the colony at the peace of Amiens 1802 upset this plan. His writings on his travels and studies in southern Africa are the subject matter of the book here offered. And it is one of the great early works on South Africa.<br> He returned to England in 1804 was appointed Second Secretary to the Admiralty by Viscount Melville a post which he held for nearly forty years. He enjoyed the esteem and confidence of all the eleven chief lords who successively presided at the Admiralty board during that period and more especially of King William IV while lord high admiral who honoured him with tokens of his personal regard. In his position at the Admiralty Barrow was a great promoter of Arctic voyages of discovery including those of John Ross William Edward Parry James Clark Ross and John Franklin. Point Barrow in Alaska is named for him. He is reputed to have been the initial proposer of St Helena as the new place of exile for Napoleon Bonaparte following the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.<br> Barrow was a fellow of the Royal Society and in 1821 received the degree of LL.D from the University of Edinburgh. A baronetcy was conferred on him by Sir Robert Peel in 1835. He retired from public life in 1845 and devoted himself to writing a history of the modern Arctic voyages of discovery 1846 as well as his autobiography published in 1847. <br> Besides the numerous articles in the Quarterly Review already mentioned Barrow published among other works: A Voyage in Cochinchina 1806 Travels in China 1804 Travels into the Interior of South Africa 1801-1804 and 1806 Lives of Lord Macartney 1807 Lord Anson 1839 Lord Howe 1838 The Eventful History of the Mutiny and Piratical Seizure of H.M.S. Bounty: 1831 Its Cause and Consequences a report about the mutiny on the Bounty.<br> T. Cadell and W. Davies, in the Strand hardcover
